Rome - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu met with Martin Kropff, Director-General of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). The two were also joined by Robert Bertram, Chief Scientist of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). During the meeting they highlighted the urgent need to develop new evidence based solutions and toolkits to tackle the most destructive pests in agriculture, specifically Fall Armyworm (FAW). In this context, QU referred to the launch of the FAO’s Global Action for FAW Control in December 2019 and the establishment of the Steering Committee as a major step forward in this...

Rome - Over the past months, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations continued to support the objectives of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (UNDFF), signing three new letters of agreement (LoA) with the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Development in Agriculture (RUFORUM) and the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). These new agreements will support knowledge exchange and capacity development activities, including two studies on family farming.  More than 90 percent of the world’s 600 million farms are run by an individual or a family and rely primarily...

Rome - It is fundamental to support smallholder and family farmers by enhancing their access to innovation for sustainable food systems and to foster sustainable development, FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said today. He made the remarks during a discussion on Enhancing access to innovation in agriculture to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at FAO headquarters in Rome. "Innovation in agriculture is a way to enhance...

Rome – During the Future of Food Symposium, FAO and the University of Nottingham signed a partnership agreement, formalizing their intentions to work together across several areas related to FAO’s mandate. The partnership will tackle policy issues related to the urban food agenda and physical access to healthy food, and will look for opportunities to strengthen governance and institutional empowerment in order to promote healthy eating for urban populations.  The collaboration envisions dialogues both with the private sector, to create solutions for building balanced food systems and supplying healthy and sustainable foods, and between farmers and consumers, to establish short circuits for...

Rome – FAO and the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) have signed a formal partnership agreement with the aim of promoting rural development in the Philippines, focusing on developing tools, methodologies and knowledge products to make agricultural systems more inclusive and efficient. The partnership envisions, among other activities, strengthening national policies, strategies and regulatory frameworks on food loss and waste throughout the value chain; facilitating an enabling environment for inclusive rural development and poverty reduction; and identifying and undertaking actions to protect and manage natural resources and ensure sustainable production. FAO and UPLB also plan to develop and disseminate...